How to quote Ethiopian authors in linguistic publications

Abstract

As the patronymic Ethiopian names do not match the widespread GIVEN NAME – FAMILY NAME pattern of the Western world, the names of Ethiopian authors are often quoted inconsistently and inappropriately by scholars in the field of linguistic typology and historical-comparative linguistics. After a brief introduction into the Ethiopian naming conventions and a summary of recurrent issues in quoting Ethiopian authors in scientific publications, we propose a number of general citation rules that would help overcome these issues and do justice to the Ethiopian naming conventions. The rules are offered as an addendum to the Generic Style Rules for Linguistics. Finally, the article demonstrates how reference management software can be manipulated so that it correctly applies the Ethiopian naming conventions.